Hess, Oxy up on support from equities, oil Street

SteveGelsi

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Oil prices, a rally in equities and bullish analyst comments lent more strength Wednesday to Hess Corp.’s recovery from seven-year lows, while Occidental Petroleum also drew Wall Street’s fancy.

Hess Corp.
HES, +1.77%
advanced 4.9% to close at $45.10 as a top gainer among components of the S&P 500 in a day of big gains for the energy sector. See: Energy Stocks.

On Friday, Hess Corp. fell to $42.65 a share, its lowest level since 2005, on stalled global economic expansion, jitters over European sovereign debt and sliding crude-oil prices. The same day, Occidental Petroleum
OXY, +1.82%
dropped below $79 a share for the first time since October as part of the carnage in the energy sector.

The drop came as oil fell from more than $100 a barrel to $80 a barrel in recent weeks and while the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped into negative territory for the year.

On Wednesday, Analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch signaled that the selloff in Hess, Occidental and other energy stocks has probably gone too far.

“Large U.S. oils have been beaten down in the wake of a wider market correction that on the whole has suffered the fallout of the euro debt crisis,” Bank of America Merrill Lynch analyst Doug Leggate wrote in a note to clients. “We believe the impact already inflicted on the energy space is overdone.”

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